Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Terminator to be preserved in U.S. film registry

By Brett Zongker, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's most famous one-liners will be back for generations to come, now that 1984's The Terminator has been selected for preservation in the nation's film archive.The low-budget film directed by James Cameron set a new standard for science-fiction and made Schwarzenegger, now California's governor, a star. The Library of Congress announced Tuesday morning that it's one of 25 films being added to the National Film Registry. The formal unveiling was scheduled for 8 a.m.

The move will guard Schwarzenegger's deadpan, "I'll be back," against deterioration, along with the sounds and images of the other culturally significant picks. Other titles being added to the registry include the groundbreaking all-black-cast film Hallelujah from 1929; Richard Brooks' 1967 film adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood ; and the 1972 film Deliverance, based on James Dickey's novel about four businessmen on a nightmarish canoe trip in the remote Georgia wildnerness.

"The registry helps this nation understand the diversity of America's film heritage and, just as importantly, the need for its preservation," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in announcing his 2008 selections. "The nation has lost about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90% of those made before 1920."

As time passes, older nitrate- and acetate-based films begin to deteriorate, Billington said. The Library of Congress is working to digitize and preserve endangered film and audio files at its new Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, an approximately $250 million facility built in a bunker in the hills near Culpeper, Va.